Listed here are several projects that are very important to our increased momentum and sustained success in our mission.  Please release your faith and believe God with us in prayer for His abundant provision for these extraordinary missions projects!

Click this link to see these awesome projects:  2012 Empower International Special Projects Document

CLICK HERE TO GIVE

My mom, Lita Powers (also known as Grandma Lita in Pakistan) works year-round knitting stocking hats for children all over the world.  While in Pakistan last month, I was able to distribute almost 200 of Grandma Lita’s hats to some very poor Christian children.  The kids were ecstatic as I personally “crowned” each one with their new winter hats just in time for winter.  In acts like this is the love of God demonstrated.

Thrilled!  Is the only word that comes to mind to describe how I felt as I distributed new uniforms to our 52 new school children in Pakistan.

Every time I show up at one of our conferences it is an amazing experience.  When we drive up to a building filled with hundreds of Christian leaders the first thing I notice is the sound of heart-felt songs of praise rising up to worship the One True and Living God.  Before I can even get out of the car, there are precious people surrounding the vehicle awaiting our arrival.  As I make my way into the building, there is a line of greeters lining the way as they hold bowls filled with flower petals.  As I enter, the flower petals fly and fall down like snow on my head and shoulders.  This is the traditional Pakistani way to welcome their guests.

The hunger for God and His Word in the hearts of the leaders here is second to none.  They have an intense desire to know God, to develop spiritual intelligence and to learn practical and effective strategies for successful ministry.  This is a great atmosphere for empowering leaders to succeed in their mission to reach their people for God!

In each conference, each day built upon the other.  There was strong teaching, timely prophetic words, spontaneous times of effectual prayer and the demonstration of God’s power.  Many leaders testified of answered prayer, revelation of God’s wisdom, physical healing and times of spiritual refreshing.

I am confident more now than ever in God’s strategy to reach Pakistan and nations like it!  It is to empower more indigenous emerging leaders through the principle of multiplication as the Apostle Paul exhorted Pastor Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2.  Alone, we cannot accomplish the mission, but with God and the great army of Believers world-wide, we can do it!

We’ve been praying for the city of Bangkok for many years!  Julie and I are thrilled to see doors opening for us in this city of 17 million.  After ministering in a church recently, we were ecstatic as we saw 10 precious Thai people come forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  I asked the pastor if this was common and he said that it was not.  However, it inspired him and his congregation to become even more diligent to bring the lost to church and to boldly witness about Jesus to all of their friends, family and people they work with.

To begin sharing this story with you, I need to take you back to the 1980’s when God began revealing His plan for me to go to the nations as a missionary for Him.  There were certain Christian leaders that had a powerful influence in my life.  These men had a deep passion to reach the world for Jesus.  God used men like Lester Sumrall, Billy Joe Daugherty and Terry Law to set me on this course.

“Empower emerging leaders to succeed in their mission to reach their people for God.”  These words resounded in my heart as we gazed into the eyes of over 90 Burmese leaders who came to receive the Word of God and practical ministry insights for success.

Julie and I and our Empower team conducted a leadership conference in the Thai/Myanmar border town of Mae Sot, Thailand.  This area is plagued with poverty and corruption and is one of the most used border crossings for trafficking children from Myanmar and Bangladesh into Thailand.

In this area there are precious Burmese pastors who are working to reach and help the Burmese people on both sides of the border.  There are several refugee camps on the Thai side where the people are afraid, hurting and desperate.

Some of these leaders risked loss of income, increased persecution and even their lives!  But, they came anyway.  These pastors and leaders have dedicated their lives to reaching their people with the message of God’s hope, love and salvation.  In our eyes, they are the true heroes of our generation.

Thank you partners for making it possible for Empower International to impact leaders who are impacting their people for God!

At the same time, I discovered that her 3 school age children were not going to school because they had no money.  God’s compassion welled up on the inside of me and He led me to make a commitment to pay for the children’s school fees, uniforms and supplies for the next year.

On my last trip to Myanmar, I went to visit this family.  When I saw them, the oldest daughter came running up to me with a big smile on her face.  Through interpreters, she told me that she loves going to school and that she is thankful that it’s possible for her to go to school.  Then, she whipped out a certificate she had recently received from her teacher, declaring that she is #1 in her class. 

Before we met this little girl, she had no hope and no future.  Now, she is beginning her education, learning the Bible and can embrace the possibility that her life can be different from what she and her family have known before Jesus came into their lives.

In 2002 we started our ministry with the name Powers Ministries International (PMI).  Beginning this Spring we will begin doing business as Empower International.

If you already give to PMI, you do not need to change anything.  If you want to give to Empower International…great!  We’re the same Todd and Julie, the same vision and the same 10/40 Window!

We are doing this to appeal to more secular organizations and foundations that are interested in funding the humanitarian branch of our missionary work.

Let us know what you think of the new look.

In the middle of the night, I woke up and the Lord so gently and powerfully began encouraging me with Bible verses about His faithfulness. The next morning, I preached a powerful and energizing message to a church full of precious Burmese people.  They were ecstatic as they embraced the life-changing truth about the Faithfulness of God!

Since that time, I have been meditating on this empowering truth and want to share some of the verses and thoughts with you.

Jeremiah 17:5-8 NIV says, “This is what the LORD says: Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes.

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. 
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. 
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

So, we have two choices…trust in man or trust in God.  I choose to trust in God because that is the only place we will experience the blessed life that He promised!

Why should we trust God?  Because He is always faithful!

Psalm 119:90 NLT says, “Your faithfulness extends to every generation.”

2 Timothy 2:13 NLT says, “If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is.”

How powerful is that!  Faithfulness not only describes the nature of God, but it reveals the very essence of who He is.  FAITHFUL is his name! If you ask me, “In whom do you put your trust?”  My answer is, “I put my trust in Faithful!”

Revelation 19:11 NLT reveals the name of our amazing God!  It says, “Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True!”

1 Thessalonians 5:24 NAS says, “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

Or, we could say, “God is He who calls you, and God also will bring it to pass!”

Numbers 23:19 NLT says, “God is not a man, so He does not lie.  Has He ever spoken and failed to act?  Has He ever promised and not carried it through?”

Isaiah 55:11 NAS says, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

God is faithful to His Word! If we pray in line with His word, then He is Faithful and He will accomplish what He promised.  Since accepting Christ in 1981 until today, He has never let me down.  Because I trust Him and take Him at His word, He remains Faithful…even when I am not.

Hebrews 10:23 NAS says, “… He who promised is faithful.”

Abraham was truly a man of faith and was blessed by God because he didn’t put his trust in man, but he put his trust in God.

Romans 4:20-21 NLT says, “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise.   He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything He promised.”

How is this possible?  Because God gave Abraham His Word!  Why did Abraham receive the promise?  Because he totally trusted God! Why did he trust God?  Because He is FAITHFUL!

Whatever you may be facing in your life today, please remember that God is faithful to every promise He has made to you.  Put your trust in Him! People, governments, companies, and even churches can let you down (big time), but God will never let you down!